RE: SUO: Multi-Source Ontology (MSO) Draft Ballot Question
John --
You're assertion:
>The distinction of logic-based vs. language-based
>is meaningless because first-order logic is a
>subset of every natural language.
Sounds as if you assume or believe that FOL is a "natural" and essential feature of natural languages, as if natural languages cannot exist without the property of containing FOL. Is this your understanding?
I feel that human beings, as language-creating creatures, apply the same linguistic skills to the creation of artificial languages like FOL as they do to natural languages. Therefore, the logic that we demonstrate or manifest in natural language use is the result of the same capabilities that allow us to create FOL as a language. If FOL is a subset of natural language, I think it's an accidental or coincidental occurrnece rather than an essential aspect of natural language (as hydrogen is to water, for example).
Bill